


don't go

by bluerendezvous



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: I'm sad over them and have a lot of thoughts, M/M, this is a little headcanon reliant but only a little
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-11
Updated: 2020-05-11
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:34:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24124450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluerendezvous/pseuds/bluerendezvous
Summary: "So? What's up?"Are you really going to just leave after all this?"I just think you should do the dishes sometimes."
Relationships: Amagi Rinne/Shiina Niki
Comments: 7
Kudos: 104





	don't go

They didn't stay in the dorms that night.

The front door of Niki's apartment clicks shut, the garbage taken out after dinner. Of course, Niki had to be the one to take out the garbage, after he'd washed the dishes after finishing the dinner that he'd cooked all on his own for himself and his ungrateful mooch of a roommate who didn't offer to do a _single_ thing to help as per usual, instead just putting his plate and silverware in the sink and heading off to the living room to watch TV from the comfort of the couch without so much as a "thank you for dinner, Niki!" or "are you sure you don't want a hand, Niki?" or anything of the sort. Niki groans as he does all the housework, but he isn't really surprised. 

He hangs up his apron and washes his hands once inside again, joining Rinne on the couch but ignoring the shows flashing on the screen. Anything Rinne puts on is usually tasteless, in Niki's opinion. Idol things he doesn't care about or movies with far too much nudity for his liking, occasionally a gameshow but never one that Niki actually likes. They chat for just a bit about nothing, and it's obvious to Niki that Rinne isn't even watching what's on the TV. His phone is in his hand, and he's scrolling along through one of his social media accounts; but he isn't really giving that his full attention, either.

No, he's probably thinking about earlier.

What he told that younger brother of his.

He doesn't want to go home … so why is it that he still says he will? Rinne has always been one to believe in fate, but if he doesn't want to go back despite it being his "fate" … why would he accept that? Rinne has never been the type of person to accept a fate other than what he wants to believe, right? So why would he believe in such a fate? Why did he tell that younger brother that?

It felt … very unlike Rinne. A free spirit, who claims to be blessed by Lady Luck herself, to give in to a date he clearly couldn't desire.

Is that really what Rinne is thinking about now?

Or is it simply what's on Niki's mind?

Rinne glances at him out of the corner of his eye and locks his phone. 

"Huh? Hey, Niki, watcha starin' at me so intensely for? Is there food on my face or somethin'?" 

Was he staring? 

"Ah … no, no you're fine. It's nothing."

A squint and a raised eyebrow. Rinne doesn't seem convinced and reaches over to give a harsh tug on his ponytail, preventing any real escape route.

"That was _kiiiinda_ suspicious sounding, y'know? Come on, you can't _'it's nothing'_ me, Niki. You got a real shit poker face, couldn't be any clearer you're hiding a card! So what is it? Come on, tell me!" 

"Owww!! Ow, _ow!!_ Let go, let gooo!! Rinne-kun, I won't tell you if you're going to be mean to me!!" Niki whines, grabbing onto Rinne's wrist and desperately trying to shake him.

And to his surprise, Rinne does let go.

"Fine, I'll be nice. So what gives? I never see you stare like that, and you look too somber to be taking in my good looks." Niki rolls his eyes and Rinne definitely catches it. "And you can't be hungry, or you wouldn't have answered me that first time. So? What's up?"

Niki doesn't really want to say what it was. He's overthinking, he's definitely overthinking. It's not worth telling him.

_Are you really going to just leave after all this?_

"I just think you should do the dishes sometimes."

A click of the tongue and the sound of the springs in the couch shifting under weight. Rinne leans far forward, with an annoyed "Huuuh?"

"I do all this cooking, and you don't even offer to help out after! I don't even make you pay for any of the groceries! Do you really think that's fair?" He speaks quickly, trying to sound convincing. 

Rinne doesn't look convinced.

"Listen, if--"

Niki stands up. 

"I'm going to take a bath and go to bed. Good night, Rinne-kun."

He ignores the sound of Rinne calling after him as he heads off.

…

...

The bed creaks beside him.

"Are you staying in here tonight?" Niki doesn't turn to face that body crawling under the covers beside him.

"'Course I am. You're upset, ain't ya? Not sure what it's about, but it's not the kinda upset I normally leave you be for."

"You notice the different ways I get upset?" 

Rinne laughs, throwing an arm over Niki's waist and holding him a little too tight.

"I've lived with you for a while now, right? I'd be real blind if I couldn't see things like that."

"Or uncaring, or selfish, or maybe just self absorbed. You're all of those things, aren't you, Rinne-kun?"

"Haaah? You think that little of me, bastard?!"

Niki laughs and he can feel Rinne's grip loosen so that his arm only rests on top of him. His hand dangles close to Niki's own.

"You're actin' real weird suddenly, Niki. It's not like you."

"... Funny. I was thinking the same thing about you earlier."

Rinne's quiet. Somehow, he's even louder when he doesn't speak.

"Rinne-kun …?"

"What about earlier wasn't like me?"

Niki shifts just enough to look over his shoulder at that idiot beside him.

"What wasn't like you? Are you serious? I don't need to explain, do I?" He can't help but be a bit irritated, and he's sure it slips through in his words.

Rinne scratches that messy hair of his with his other hand, sighing with a soft frustration. Nothing loud and showy as he usually is.

"I've always spoken about fate, haven't I? So if something's my fate, it's my fate. You said meeting me was the unluckiest fate of your life, right? So that's just the unluckiest fate of mine. It can't be helped."

" _That--_ that right there. That's what isn't like you. Rinne-kun, you never settle for an answer you don't like. So what the hell is that? If you don't want to go back home, then you don't need to. You always do what you want, what about this is different? The Rinne-kun I know wouldn't just go live some life he doesn't want."

"You … you sound pretty upset about this. It ain't even about you, so why--"

Niki finally turns over to face him, grabbing his hand in his own tightly. "So _why?_ Rinne-kun, what am I to you? Do you think I'll just let you go? Just like that?!"

Rinne's eyes are wide, an empty grin fooling neither of them on his face. He goes to speak Niki's name, only to be cut off.

"This is our home, Rinne-kun. Not that hometown of yours, _here._ Isn't this where you lounge around and let me take care of you? Isn't this where you stumble into every time you lose all your damn money to beg me for more just to try one more time, one more time at those dumb halls you like so much?! Isn't this where you watch those idols you love so much on TV and say how much fun you have being one, looking at me expecting to say I do too?! And where you take Kohaku-chan and HiMERU-kun to play board games while I'm at work?! So why would y--"

His face is in Rinne's chest. He didn't even notice Rinne pry his hand from his to embrace him. 

"... So that's what it was? You just don't want me to go?"

" … I …" Was that really it? It wasn't that he didn't understand why Rinne would go, but that he just wanted him to stay? No, it's still true he didn't understand. After all, doesn't Rinne care about him? Why would he leave him behind? Did he overestimate what he meant to him? Or did he just misunderstand? "Rinne-kun …"

Gently, he rubs circles in Niki's back. It's a little comforting.

"You really are like a wife, you know?"

"Huh?"

Niki tilts his head up to see him, and he beams down at him with a grin softer than what he usually wears, but somehow more sincere. 

"I'll always come home to you, 'kay Niki? So go to sleep." 

"Promise?"

"Yeah. Til death do us part."

"... sap."

"Go to sleep."

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this in a half asleep daze just for myself bc I thought of One line I wanted to write and then the next day the main story dropped rinne saying he'd go home so h a  
> Anyway I love Rinne Amagi


End file.
